MEL STILLER
‘Very fortunate’
The Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Southern New England recently formed a steering committee for fund-raising in an effort to bring more education and counseling to the credit-challenged consumer.
CCCS/SNE is a nonprofit public service agency formed in 1999 from the merger of the former CCCS-affiliated agencies from Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island and is the provider of financial counseling, financial education, debt management programs and housing counseling in the tri-state area.
CCCS/SNE, which traces its roots to 1972, is a member of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. The NFCC has almost 142 member agencies throughout the United States. Including branch and satellite locations, there are offices in approximately 1,300 communities. But due to financial cutbacks from national organizations, CCCS/SNE and other nonprofit groups are finding alternate ways to raise money for their services.
Now, CCCS/SNE is relying on endorsements from banking industry professionals to raise revenues and help those in credit crisis situations.
“Our driving focus is on fund-raising because credit counseling, in general, is being supported less financially by national creditors like credit card companies … that funding has lessened over the years and so there is more of a need on a local basis to raise money,” said Mel Stiller, chief executive officer of CCCS/SNE’s Boston branch. “As an organization, we have been very fortunate in that with the help of the MBA [Massachusetts Bankers Association], which endorses us every year, approximately 70 percent of the banks in Massachusetts support us every year. We wanted to bring that closer to 100 percent and also, to solidify the relationship, we wanted to obtain five-year pledges from the banks.”
The organization established its new steering committee to help fund-raising efforts in CCCS/SNE’s footprints. The fund-raising campaign, which began May 9, has the endorsement of the MBA and is run as a peer-to-peer campaign in which bank chief executive officers are calling on the chief executives at other banks.
“[Daniel] Forte at the MBA endorsed the concept, and from there we talked with our biggest bank supporters … and we’ve been very fortunate,” said Stiller. “We hope [with the support of] the five-year pledges, we reach the goal of $1 million.”
‘Very Supportive’
Stiller said the money raised will be put toward financial counseling and education programs that are targeted both at consumers looking to prevent financial problems as well as those currently finding themselves with such difficulties. As of Aug. 11, the CCCS/SNE has raised a total of $354,000 since its fund-raising campaign began in mid-May.
However, with offices in Boston, East Hartford, Conn., Warwick, R.I., and additional satellite offices in other locations throughout Southern New England, Stiller said following industry trends is a necessity to developing effective educational programs for the consumer. Community education, which is primarily conducted through group presentations and trade shows, helps consumers prevent financial difficulties and develop lifelong financial management skills.
“Our prime function is to raise a long-term financial commitment for the organization. The reason we are doing this is that there are tons of people who need credit counseling – at all levels of life – and when a little tragedy strikes, they don’t know how to get themselves out of a muck,” said Paul Bozzini, a member of the steering committee and the recently retired chief executive officer of Milford Federal Savings Bank. “We see all kinds of people with all sorts of life’s problems … and this wreaks havoc and many people don’t know how to handle it.”
As the summer draws to an end, that means back-to-school time for a lot of college students, and Stiller said one program of the CCCS/SNE is focusing on educating students on how to manage their money.
“There are a lot of young people graduating college today with heavy debt loads because they can now borrow more money. They have $3,000 to $5,000 worth of credit card debt and also college debt, and their first job doesn’t really pay for the debt, the apartment and the car,” said Stiller. “We are also a reverse mortgage provider and we are seeing more and more people interested in reverse mortgage counseling.”
While the credit counseling services have been available for years, new products and materials constantly become available to consumers. Stiller said the CCCS/SNE will use some of the fund-raising money to develop new educational materials for clients.
“The long-term goal is to keep the organization functioning so that it can provide these types of services … I’ve had really good luck so far [with fund-raising],” said Bozzini. “The last couple of years, the banks have done really well and so they have been very supportive.”
New products currently being developed at the CCCS/SNE include financial information in the form of written materials that can be sold to clients and an Internet counseling program that can be accessed in real time online.
“We are finding that there are more people, especially younger people, doing business over the Internet. We provided a real-time chat so that people can be counseled over the Internet,” said Stiller. “There is an overall technology change to provide help to our clients, faster and better, and help us operate the agency more efficiently.”
Currently, there are 11 bankers on the CCCS/SNE steering committee representing banks throughout New England. Bob Caruso, president of Lowell Five Cent Savings Bank, chairs the committee. The other members are Bozzini, Conrad Bernier of Pittsfield Cooperative Bank, Ken Brennan of Auburndale Cooperative Bank, Kevin Fitzgerald of Cambridge Savings Bank, Bill Gothorpe of Dedham Institution for Savings, Sam Hokkanen of Athol Savings Bank, Janice Houghton of Stoneham Cooperative Bank, Bob Lamprey of Framingham Cooperative Bank, Rick Lawton of Webster Five Cent Savings Bank and John MacNeish of Country Bank.
Melanie Nayer may be reached at mnayer@thewarrengroup.com.
